Sand, salt and stings
by CrazyNinjaChicks
Summary: It is amazing what a bikini, salt water and a blue bottle can acheive. Team building Tiva fic. The Air conditioner is down and Gibbs thinks its time for an informal team building exercise. T for safety


Sand, salt and stings.

It was stifling hot inside the squad room. The air-conditioning was down again and despite earning constant head-slaps from Gibbs; Tony was in a singlet top and his boxer shorts, constantly mopping sweat from his forehead with his discarded dress shirt.

Ziva thought he was over-reacting. She was in her normal attire except she was in a long, light-weight skirt instead of jeans. Tony thought she looked very hot, appearance wise of course, and couldn't help but notice the way her skirt swirled around her legs when she walked.

"Oh my God!" Tony moaned again for perhaps the hundredth time.

"I don't see what your problem is Tony." McGee commented smugly. Much to Tony's chagrin, Tim had managed to construct a mini-fan out of the old pieces of technology he kept in his drawer.

"Shut up McSmart-ass." He looked over at the empty desk across from his, "Where's our little ninja?"

"Wouldn't know Tony. I don't follow her every move like you do."

"She's my partner, I need to make sure she doesn't get into trouble… or cause any for that matter." He added.

"How do you think Gibbs manages to wear that many layers on a day like today and still drink that much coffee?"

"Don't know McGee, I don't follow his every move like you do, besides… how many ways can Ziva kill you with a piece of chewing gum, not including the paper?"

"I don't know, how many?"

"Don't know. You see it's a rhetorical question."

Tony let his head drop back to the table with a dull thunk before he poured half a bottle of water over it.

oOo

After hours of ceaseless complain from Tony and McGee's fan had finally konked out; Gibbs decided it wouldn't so bad if they all went on a little team building, or team destroying, excursion to the beach. That way Tony could disappear; chasing after brainless, bikini clad women, McGee could get some time away from a computer in any shape or form and Ziva could find a cute guy to tear herself away from her partner. Gibbs had noticed that lately that those two had become increasingly close, a little to close to be called professional partnership but not so much that it was breaking rule #12.

After he had announced his proposal, he hadn't thought he had seen his team move so fast, each member of Gibbs team raced to the car-park to find their cars and get their stuff from home.

"Zivawhenyougethome,grabyourstuff,leaveyourcarandwaitoutfront." Tony said breathlessly as he climbed into his car. Ziva didn't even have time to decline Tony's offer, he was already speeding away towards the gate with childish enthusiasm.

oOo

Tony slammed on the brakes and nearly went through the wind shield when he pulled up in front of Ziva's place. He couldn't stop his mouth from dropping and his board shorts feeling that little bit tighter.

She was in a white, halter neck sundress, you could just see the outline of her brown bikini if you strained your eyes enough and of course Tony was. Her hair was down, parted to one side and pushed back with big, white rimmed sunglasses.

"I swear she is trying to get me fired." He muttered to himself before climbing out of his car.

"You look…nice." He commented. He really wanted to say 'hot' but thought against it, after all she was the crazy ninja chick.

"So do you." She replied smoothly, tossing her bag in the back seat and sliding into the front.

They were silent the entire trip, the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife; Tony focused too hard on the road and Ziva stared out the window, trying to distract herself with the flashing landscape anything that drew attention away from his windswept hair, sparkling green eyes and childish grin.

_Get a grip David_ she berated herself. But she couldn't. Tony's childish, charismatic qualities were just too hard to resist.

_Get a grip DiNozzo_ he berated himself. But he couldn't. Ziva was like Athena's younger, better looking sister. A goddess on earth.

They both sighed with disappointment, knowing they would never get what they wanted and focused intently on anything that was not each other.

oOo

Tony was in the water, so was Ziva but they were on opposite ends of the beach.

He had seen her in a bikini before, hell… he had seen her naked, but the black and white stripes of her LA costume didn't do her justice by a long shot compared to her latest addition of swimwear. It is simple and plain brown… but it was the colour. It set of the highlights in her hair and the chocolate of her eyes, suddenly that brown didn't seem so plain and his shorts didn't seem to be big enough so he spied the largest group of half naked blondes on the beach and ran after them; trying desperately to escape his sensual thoughts of Ziva in her brown, little number.

Tony had taken off his shirt and she couldn't help but admire the tawny colour of his skin and how taunt it was across his muscles. Tony had been working out. She stared at him and had no idea that he was staring back. Her eyes wandered down before she knew what she was doing. Gibbs' sharp voice broke them out of their reverie and Ziva fled to the water before she could give her eyes a chance to look back.

Tony desperately hoped the water was cold before he splashed into the waves. He had long given up on the other before he had even accidentally called one of them 'Ziva'. He couldn't focus on anything but her perfect figure in a few strips of fabric. He shook himself out of his trance and dived under the biggest wave he could find. When he resurfaced and cleared the water out of his ears he heard a siren ringing from the watchtower and the rumble of the quad bikes as they zoomed across the sand; their drivers shouting through voice amplifiers instructing swimmers out of the water.

With no regard for his own safety, Tony looked around for Ziva in the surf.

She was closer than he thought; the current had pulled them closer together, like some out worldly force. He grabbed her hand and towed her behind him; they were out deep, so deep that even Tony couldn't touch the sand. Ziva kicked out with her legs and started swimming.

"Ziva, don't!" Tony shouted over the screams of the distressed civilians.

"Why not?"

"Cause an shark would think you're a seal." He reasoned.

"That is not a shark alarm, Tony." She berated, "It is a blue bottle alarm."

"Let's go!" he exclaimed, tugging her along faster and swimming with all his strength. Ziva soon over took him and she was pulling him back.

"OWW!" she yelped, dancing in the waist high water.

It stung, it stung heaps. Her whole leg felt like it was paralyzed by pain but that one yelp was all she would allow her body to tell her that it was hurt.

Tony scooped her up and carried her out of the water and ran her to shore. He nearly dropped her on the sand but caught her and dropped her more gently. He took her calf in his hands, soft, smooth, defined-_ get a grip DiNozzo_, he grabbed the top of the small stinging creature and peeled it of her leg. He felt her wince but she said nothing.

"What now?" she asked calmly.

"Well, you're supposed to put cold water on it but we don't have any." He looked around, every one was leaving. In the distance he could make out the small dot that was Gibbs and the even smaller dot that was McGee.

"Hey! I watched this movie-."

"Shocking."

"And they had this scene where this guy got-."

"Get to the tip."

"I think you mean point but… okay, anyway they pissed on his leg and it worked."

Ziva laughed bitterly, "I am not doing that."

"Then you'll have to wait for Gibbs."

For several minutes she squirmed in silent pain before she gave in.

"Fine Tony… but I can't…" she searched for the right words, "maneuver myself into a position to…do that."

"I would do it if you ask nicely." He drawled.

"No thanks."

Several more minutes…

"Okay, fine. Fine… Anthony DiNozzo with all your charm and kindness and consideration for others, would you please rid me of this dreadful pain?" she asked melodramatically, trying to make light the situation that would result with Tony's urine on her leg. She still couldn't bring herself to think about it.

"Of course milady." He replied in the same tone and attitude, "You best look away if you wish to remain 'just a co-worker'."

_A little late for that._ They both thought.

oOo

Their day at the beach had been eventful, so had the rest of the day at headquarters; Tony had dramatically told the tale over and over again, (with each narration the story became increasingly absurd, some involving Aqua Man and Shark Boy and the little blue bottle had transformed into a jelly fish), until Ziva had thrown her stapler at him and promised that next time it would be her knife. Tony had abruptly stopped telling the story.

Gibbs was pleased that at least two of his team were friendly enough to have one piss on the others leg but he was also aware just how quickly that friendship may spin out of control and develop into something much bigger… then he shrugged it away. It might be good for Tony to settle down and Ziva would definitely keep him in line. Gibbs grinned to himself, those two were made for each other and rules were made to be broken.

He watched as Tony helped Ziva limp to the elevator.

Yeah… he thought to himself, those two would be just fine.


End file.
